What water is suitable for irrigating tomatoes?
Tomatoes moderately tolerate saline irrigation water, but seedlings prefer water with a conductivity of less than 1.2 deciSiemens per centimetre (dS/cm). In the field, the effects of salinity will be noticeable and there may be a significant reduction in yield at conductivity levels of 2.0 to 3.0 dS/cm. At these levels, overhead irrigation is risky and needs careful management to ensure that the crops do not dry out, allowing the salts to accumulate within the root zone. Severe leaf burn may result from salt deposits on the leaves and blossom end rot may occur. Trickle irrigation allows the use of higher salinity water because the salts are pushed to the outside of the wetting zone. However, yield may be reduced significantly and blossom-end rot may occur.
